Jeremy & Joanna Tour Europe!: July 2007

A Farewell to Friends

When I left Australia so long ago I wasn’t really sad to be leaving, as I knew one day I would be back and I would get to see all of my friends and family again. Leaving London is truly one the saddest things I have ever had to do! Not only do we have to leave this amazing city that has become our home for so long, but we also have to leave behind so many new friends that have grown to be like family to us here! Many we will see again, but also many we may never see again. So this a farewell message to all our friends and a huge thank you from Jo and I. Thank you for being exactly who you are!

See you in the future!

Here are some photos of what we’ve been up to in our last week in London!

Bye Room!!

Jeremy and his Sunglass Hut buddies: Jeremy, Chris, Sarah and Ibs

Chris

Sarah and Jeremy

We're going to miss your cooking Ibs!!

Lunch at the Green: Riaz, Karin and Jeremy

Travis, Jo and Greta

Karin, bowling in fine form

and Greta showing off her stuff

Greta, Jo, Karin and Jeremy

Brighton Blitz

Well our inevitable departure from London is fast approaching, so what are we doing? Well we are running around like maniacs trying to squeeze every last drop out of the time we have left here!

Brighton was the best place to be on Saturday 21^st of July. Simply because it wasn’t raining there, unlike London and everywhere else in the UK! After having seen so many images of Brighton it was great to head down there and check out the sites. The photo’s say it all except for the sunburn I managed to get falling asleep on Brighton Pier.

Tour de France

I may not be the biggest follower of the Tour de France but after having spent a couple of late nights watching the highlights and the odd stage back in Australia on SBS, I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go and check out the race when it started in London this year!!

So I woke Jo up early on Sunday (about 9am) and dragged her out to Greenwich where the crowds weren’t likely to be as horrendous as they would be in the City!

It was really great! But let me just say, in hindsight, it’s not the best type of sport to go and watch from the sidelines!

Not Another Hike!

Well after our big 170km hike through the Scottish Highlands we thought we’d cram one more hike in before we started our trip home. El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St James) is actually a pilgrimage and, according to some article I read in the paper about 4 years ago, one of the top 5 walks in the world! Traditionally the walk begins over on the French/Spanish border and pilgrims walk about 800kms over 30 days to the far west coast of Spain above Portugal. The Pilgrimage has many routes through Spain and Portugal with the most common being the ‘Camino Frances’. But all routes pass through the city of Santiago de Compostela where the remains of the Apostle St James are said to be kept.

So we planned a week trip to Spain to walk the last 100km of the Camino, through the region of Galicia, and thus see some of the greener parts of the walk and also qualify for the ‘Compostela’ (a certificate proving that you have walked at least 100km).

The hike was really great and we made some really good friends on it… we actually met quite a few people who had walked all 800 kilometres of it… We were pretty much in awe! While the walk was in no way as strenuous as the Scotland hike, the sheer dedication to keep walking for over 30 days is truly inspiring!

To be honest though, I’m really getting tired of walking in the rain!